Posts Tagged ‘Liverpool’

Exclusive interview with Titi Camara!

Posted: September 22, 2012 by SFG in African Football
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Sandals For Goalposts recently managed to catch up with former Guinea international Titi Camara for an exclusive interview. Camara enjoyed a good career which took him to France, England, Saudi Arabia, Qatar before ending it back in France with Amiens. He played football with joie de vivre and an undiluted smile beamed when he scored goals, a smile that reflected that football should be about having fun and made him the type of player that was difficult to detest, even if you were a rival fan of the teams played for.

And there was substance behind that smile – a successful career in France, a glorious short spell with Liverpool, finishing 91st in the ‘100 Players That Shook The Kop’ compilation by Liverpool FC (the second highest placed African player, behind Bruce Grobbelaar), and a prolific goal-scoring record which propelled Guinean football back to Africa’s footballing summit.

Camara, who is the current Sports Minister of Guinea, took time out of his hectic schedule to answer a few questions about Liverpool, the Guinea national team and his career in general. Here we go:

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SFG Player of the Week: Samba Diakite

Posted: March 26, 2012 by Salim Masoud Said in Player of the Week
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Welcome to Sandals For Goalposts’ new feature: Player of the Week. After each gameweek, our team of writers, or even our readers (you’re more than welcome to contribute), will put forward an African or Asian player who has performed well over that particular gameweek with a terrific performance or something off-the-pitch that deserves special praise and recognition.

The French-born  Malian, who joined QPR on loan from AS Nancy in January with a view to a permanent move in the summer, made an unceremonious debut in a 1-0 defeat to Fulham, receiving his marching orders after just 33 minutes following a series of wild tackles as he adjusted into the hurly-burly of the Premiership. In a way, it exemplified the Mali international’s rawness and physicality. Anyone who watched Mali at the Cup of Nations would testify that they were the most physical team, often escaping with some horrific tackles that would have certainly been severely punished if the standards of refereeing were stricter.

The Malian showcased his rawness for the first 25 minutes in a remarkable 3-2 win by QPR against Liverpool last week, akin to a fan who has won a competition to play for a Premiership club for a single game with his over-enthusiasm, mistimed dribbles and misplaced places. For the rest of the game, though, he was a different player. He transformed into a hybrid of Yaya Toure and Cheick Tiote as he regularly stormed past the Liverpool midfield with a combination of heavy-weight boxer power and tenacity to bulldoze his way through the Liverpool midfield. He may be raw, he may look like an Alia Dia impressionist at times, but against Liverpool he showed why QPR have signed him.

Predicting the Premier League

Posted: January 22, 2012 by Sagar in English Football
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Last term, I wrote what was quite possibly the worst essay I had ever written. Needless to say, I was dreading the day that the essay was marked and handed back to me; that day was last Tuesday. I got 84%. Feel free to congratulate me in the comments section! Anyway, while footballing fans got their first fix of African Nations football last night, I’m here with my first blog. Master of Arts, I ain’t, so please consider my contributions a work in progress and hopefully in time, they’ll actually keep you awake for more than 2 minutes. Don’t forget to like us on facebook and follow us on twitter!

Five months in, we’re roughly half-way through the 2011/12 Premier League season, so it would seem that now is as good a time as any to look at how the second-half of the campaign may pan out for some of the teams. Here I take a look at who, in my opinion, is better equiped to take the crown, which teams will be contending for Europe come May and who will have to look forward to away trips to Vicarage Road and Fratton Park respectively next season (pending both Watford and Portsmouth retain Championship status, of course). So far, the season has been one of the most entertaining and closely contested in recent memory with freak results and the return of footballing legends.

Do the champions have what it takes to retain the trophy?

Champagne bottles and avoiding Channel 5
As expected, Man City are right up there and, at the time of this post, currently top the table by 3 points. Yet again, they invested heavily in the summer and blockbuster signing Sergio Aguero has done well to blend into the team so quickly; however there are still reservations over Samir Nasri’s performances which can, arguably, be attributed to a lack of game time. City are hardly playing fantastic football as of late, but with the talent they have in their ranks, it’s difficult to see them dropping points on a regular basis. They have yet to play Tottenham, Chelsea and United at home and considering their form at the Etihad Stadium over the past year or so, they can be seen as winnable games. If City have any sort of weakness it’s at the back, where after Kompany, Toure and Lescott they don’t have quality cover in the centre of defense. Savic may prove to be a good buy in the long-term but he has looked out of sorts in the games he has played so far. Further defensive reinforcements in this month’s transfer window would not come as a surprise. Having said that, whether or not City decide to spend in January, this season looks to be a two-horse race between the blue half of Manchester and….

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